The late Norman Lear‘s career was defined by centering underrepresented stories rarely seen on television, and “Clean Slate,” one of Lear’s final projects, continues that tradition. The show follows father/daughter duo Harry (George Wallace) and Desiree Slate (Laverne Cox), who reconnect after being estranged for over two decades. Created by Wallace, Cox and Dan Ewen,
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Generational wars have long been a trope in television and popular culture. Yet, no recent series has captured this type of tension as cleverly as “The Z-Suite.” Created and written by Katie O’Brien, Tubi‘s first original scripted comedy series follows Monica Marks (a stellar Lauren Graham), the CEO of Atelier Advertising agency. With numerous awards,
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Chrissy Teigen took aim at Donald Trump‘s White House when asked about a video the administration released that targeted Selena Gomez, who went viral last month after posting an Instagram video in which she filmed herself crying over deportations of undocumented immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “I love her. Empathy should never be
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Berlin-based world sales company Pluto Film, led by Daniela and Benjamin Cölle, is marking its 10th anniversary with a shift into production as it readies its European Film Market slate. Pluto’s Berlin Film Festival lineup is led by Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay’s psychological thriller “Hysteria,” which screens in the Panorama sidebar. The trailer debuts below. [embedded
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Japanese moviegoers are famously well-behaved, even carting out their empty soda cups and popcorn containers after the screening. They also tend to make few sounds beyond titters for comedies or snuffles for tear-jerkers. But the full-house crowd at the Feb. 5 world premiere of the animation “Hypnosis Mic – Division Rap Battle” at Toho Cinemas
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Slang, the independent frontline record label under the Influence Media umbrella, has named Tiara Hargrave general manager. She is based in New York and will report to Influence partner and founding advisor Rene Mclean, who heads up the label. Slang, launched last July, has a distribution deal with Will Smith, and its roster includes Grammy-winning producers Camper (Jay-Z, Drake,
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Warner Music Group and Spotify have announced a new, multi-year agreement, covering both recorded music and music publishing, that effectively ends the companies’ disputes over the streaming giant’s “bundling” option, which pays rights-holders less in royalties by offering audiobooks and music together for a reduced subscription fee. Universal Music struck a similar deal with Spotify just
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Netflix, Max and Prime Video are currently in the thick of negotiations with French film guilds to seek earlier access to newly released theatrical movies as part of an industry-wide process to update the country’s windowing rules. France’s strict windowing rules apply to French and global streamers, as well as local free-to-air and pay-TV channels,
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Pan-European production and sales company Federation Studios (“The Bureau”) has teamed up with prominent Italian producer Alessandro Usai to launch a new film and TV shingle in Italy called No Name Entertainment. Usai (pictured above), who is president of Italy’s motion picture association ANICA, has over the past 15 years led the commercially successful Colorado Film
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Jonathan Majors‘ violent bodybuilding drama “Magazine Dreams” is heading to market for international sales for the first time ahead of its U.S. release on March 21 via Briarcliff Entertainment. Celsius Entertainment has acquired international sales rights to the film, written and directed by Elijah Bynum and starring Majors alongside Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige, Harriet Sansom
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Japanese icon Takeshi Kitano offered a surprisingly candid admission about his Venice Film Festival appearance for “Broken Rage” last year: he barely remembers it, having suffered a concussion en route to the premiere after hitting his head on a motorboat. “I actually had to go to the doctor, and they looked into my brain waves,”
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Robert De Niro‘s first foray into series television proved to be an endurance test for the legendary actor, who compared filming Netflix‘s “Zero Day” to swimming the English Channel — with no sight of either shore. “It is like doing three features back to back,” De Niro said at a preview event in London on
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Eye Haïdara (“C’est la vie!”) and Mélanie Laurent (“Inglorious Basterds”) are starring in “Mata,” a high voltage spy thriller directed by Rachel Lang, whose previous film “Our Men” played at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight. “Mata” has been boarded by Paris-based Indie Sales which will introduce the project to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin.
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Film Movement has landed North American rights to “Stranger Eyes,” the surveillance-themed thriller from Singaporean director Yeo Siew Hua that competed for Venice’s Golden Lion in 2024. The psychological thriller stars Taiwanese cinema icon Lee Kang-sheng (“Days”) alongside Chien-Ho Wu and Anicca Panna. The story centers on a young Singaporean couple whose world is shattered
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Hollywood Icelandic mogul Joni Sighvatsson, producer of David Lynch’s Palme d’Or winner “Wild at Heart” and head of L.A.-based Palomar Entertainment, has partnered the Scandinavian powerhouse The Global Ensemble Drama and South Africa’s Diprente Media for the feature adaptation of Jonas Jonasson’s best-selling book “The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden.” The majority English-language
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For many of us, periods of intense grieving don’t leave clear, linear memories. Time stretches, compresses and fragments, words and faces and gestures emerge irregularly from an overwhelmed blur, and often it’s everyday banalities — what we ate, bought or wore — that stick faster than more consequential events. Occasionally, the mind constructs or distorts
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Romanian filmmaker Corneliu Porumboiu will be the special guest at the 56th edition of documentary festival Visions du Réel, which runs April 4 – 13 in Nyon, Switzerland. There will be a retrospective of all Porumboiu’s feature films, and he will deliver a masterclass. “Imbued with dark humor, Corneliu Porumboiu’s films play with the absurdity
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“One Piece” actor Mackenyu Maeda, known professionally as simply Mackenyu, has joined the voice cast of Ubisoft‘s upcoming “Assassin’s Creed Shadows.” Best known for playing Roronoa Zoro in Netflix’s smash-hit live-action adaptation of beloved anime “One Piece,” Mackenyu will be playing Gennojo, “a key character who helps the protagonist track and eliminate a crucial target.”
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Original “Little House on the Prairie” actors Dean Butler and Alison Arngrim are quelling concerns that the recently announced reboot will tarnish the legacy of the beloved 1974 drama. In a recent interview with Remind, Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson in the original “Little House,” said she’s heard two distinct fan reactions to the reboot:
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Welcome to Horror Explorer, a curated column showcasing the month’s best movies, series, books and everything else spooky worth checking out. I’m William Earl, the editor of Variety.com and the publication’s resident horror enthusiast. Please drop me a line at wearl@variety.com if there’s something I should check out for next month’s missive.  Marquee Madness Image
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Zoe Saldaña is speaking out about the controversy surrounding her “Emilia Pérez” co-star Karla Sofía Gascón, whose past social media posts have resurfaced, drawing criticism for their offensive and Islamophobic rhetoric. The backlash has overshadowed the film’s historic Oscar recognition, including Saldaña’s first Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. In an interview for an
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